The present invention relates to the field of consumption-water heating, and it preferably but not exclusively relates to water heated by means of solar energy, and more specifically the invention relates to a storage device which is characterized substantially by a special and innovative arrangement and conformation of the storage tanks that the device is made up of, as well as of the pipes that connect them.
It is well known that in the storage within a normal tank-boiler a temperature decrease occurs in water which is contained in its upper portion and transfers heat to the lower, colder layers because of conductivity of water and of the tank walls themselves, as well as because of the mixing occurring during the use of the plant and of xe2x80x9cthermosiphon-likexe2x80x9d circulation (convective motions). Such decrease in the temperature gives rise in time to a decrease in the amount of water that can be employed at a given temperature.
The total amount of heat, enthalpy, does not decrease, but the exploitation possibility, with reference to a determined temperature, decreases with increasing the entropy of the system.
The main object of this invention is that of limiting said reduction of temperature by proposing a new configuration and a new arrangement of the storage tanks and of the connecting pipes as relative.
This was attained, according to the present finding, substantially by providing the subdivision of a determined volume of hot water stored in two or more tanks of an equivalent total volume, and by connecting them through pipes arranged in a suitable way.
It is also known that the transformation of solar energy into heat can be obtained with a higher yield by solar panels of the xe2x80x9csingle-blockxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cintegratedxe2x80x9d type when the part exposed to the sun is also the hot water storage tank.
A second object of the invention is that of attaining both the keeping of high temperatures of water for a longer time and a higher yield of transformation of solar energy into thermal energy for the heating of water itself, both directly and indirectly through the employment of a thermovector liquid.